Hydrogen + Oxygen - Why can't we just manufacture Water? Reading Answers

Dec 30, 2023

Hydrogen + Oxygen - Why can't we just manufacture Water?Reading Answers contains 13 questions, and it is a topic from the IELTS academic reading test. Hydrogen + Oxygen - Why can't we just manufacture Water? Reading Answers has been taken from a book called IELTS-The Complete Guide to General Reading. In IELTS reading section, the nature of questions is such that candidates have to read a passage and provide answers from therein, it is to be attempted within 20 minutes. Hydrogen + Oxygen - Why can't we just manufacture Water? Reading Answers contains the questions that ask the candidates to find information from the passage and fill in the blanks, ascertain their falsehood etc.. To practice more reading papers like that the candidates can refer to the IELTS practice test.

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Section 1

Read the passage to answer the questions that follow

Hydrogen + Oxygen - Why can't we just manufacture Water? Reading Answers

The availability of water in the developed world is becoming a matter of concern, but for less developed nations, this has been a problem for a long time. For hundreds of years many populations have not had access to clean drinking water, and the poor have suffered particularly. Water may be available in some areas, but it is often ridden with pathogens and can be fatal to drink. In other places, there is no water supply at all. About a fifth of the world's people do not have access to clean drinking water. Would it be possible to solve this problem by creating water?

The chemical make-up of water is two hydrogen atoms that are attached to one oxygen atom. This is seemingly basic chemistry, so why don't we just join them up and solve all the world's water problems? Well, it is easier said than done. In theory it is doable, but it is extremely unsafe. We have to have both oxygen and hydrogen atoms to make water. Just mixing them together does not mean they combine chemically. To make H₂O, the electrons of both have to link up, and we need the addition of intense heat and force to get them to do this.

With oxygen supporting combustion and hydrogen being extremely flammable, this would be easy to create. All that is needed is a spark, not even a flame, and kaboom - we have water! The oxygen and hydrogen atoms will have combined. But we also have to contend with a massive explosion. Consider the Hindenburg, the ill-fated German passenger airship that exploded over New Jersey in 1937. It was kept afloat with hydrogen and as it was landing after a trans-Atlantic flight, static electricity sparked the hydrogen. Mixing with oxygen in the air, the hydrogen exploded and the Hindenburg was enveloped in a ball of fire, completely destroying the ship in about 30 seconds. (Amazingly, 62 of the 97 people on board survived, though most were severely burned.) As a result though, the explosion created a lot of water.

So if we were to produce water in the amounts required to stop water shortages, there would have to be stringent measures to limit the dangers. Then again, the use of nuclear power has even greater risks, with Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011 as horrifying examples, yet nations continue to take the nuclear option. As water becomes scarcer, the benefits of creating it might be seen to outweigh the risks.

Another possible way of obtaining water is from seawater. The desalination process can be done in a number of ways. The most traditional is distillation, wherein the salt water is heated with electricity or solar power, and the steam drawn off returns to a liquid state without salt when it cools. The electric powered version is expensive and the solar method is not very efficient at creating large amounts of water as yet.

Reverse osmosis is when salt water is pushed through a water- permeable membrane that filters the salt. All of Dubai's drinking water is obtained using this process. This too uses a great deal of energy, though there has been some research using very thin graphene as a membrane, which would reduce the amount of pressure required. Desalination can also be done with electro-dialysis, which removes salts from water with an electric charge also using a membrane. But it does not necessarily provide clean water as the electric current does not remove bacteria and solid particles.

Due to their expense, the countries that are currently using these methods tend to be wealthy, so the places that require the technology the most, cannot afford it. There is some question about pollution caused, not only by the methods used to heat or pressurize the water, but also the salt residue that is a by-product. If not returned to the sea very carefully, it can be harmful to marine life, and left on land it is at risk of entering the water table. Solar distillation of seawater looks to be the most sustainable method and research is underway to make it function on a larger scale for drinking water and agriculture. However, many areas that lack water are a long way from the sea, so any of these methods would not be feasible even if better technology or more funds were available.

Another promising method is to extract the water vapour that is always present in the air (to varying degrees depending on the humidity). This vapour is part of the natural cycle that lifts water from the surface of bodies of water such as oceans and lakes, forms clouds and eventually becomes rain. Areas that do not receive this rain would benefit from the water being removed from the cycle at an earlier stage, before it forms into clouds that drop their rain somewhere else. A number of inventions have been proposed that range from windmills to farm vehicles, but much like the desalination processes, they too have had problems with costs, pollution, sustainability and effectiveness. Mostly they have been produced by small-scale inventors and have not had the backing of academia and industry. It is yet to be seen what someone might come up with in the future if research is expanded.

All these methods may have their drawbacks, but they are certainly a step in the right direction. If we continue the search for ways of taking water vapour out of the atmosphere, or come up with improvements in solar distillation, surely a cheaper, cleaner alternative could be arrived at before long?

Questions 14-17

Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer

What do many water supplies contain that kill people if they drink from them?

Answer: Pathogens
Supporting Sentence: Water may be available in some areas, but it is often ridden with pathogens and can be fatal to drink.
Keyword: Water, ridden, fatal
Keyword Location: Paragraph 1, 4th &5th line
Explanation: If something is fatal that means it can kill. The Supporting sentence states that water available in some areas is ridden with pathogens which means it contains pathogens. It further states that such water can kill people if they drink from them.

What proportion of the world’s people do not have sanitary water to drink?

Answer: A Fifth
Supporting Sentence: About a fifth of the world's people do not have access to clean drinking water.
Keyword: world’s people, clean, drinking water
Keyword Location: Paragraph 1, 6th line
Explanation: The word sanitary also means clean. So, the supporting sentence says that a fifth of world’s people don’t have access to sanitary drinking water. Not having access means not having at all.

What parts of oxygen and hydrogen atoms need to join to create water?

Answer: The Electrons
Supporting Sentence: To make H₂O, the electrons of both have to link up, and we need the addition of intense heat and force to get them to do this.
Keyword: H2O, link up
Keyword Location: Paragraph 2, 5th & 6th line
Explanation: The formula of Water is H2O and link up means to join. So, the supporting sentence says that to make water, the electrons of both (oxygen & hydrogen) will have to join.

What is the problematic side-effect of creating water from hydrogen & oxygen?

Answer: A Massive Explosion
Supporting Sentence: The oxygen and hydrogen atoms will have combined. But we also have to contend with a massive explosion.
Keyword: oxygen, hydrogen, contend
Keyword Location: Paragraph 3, 3rd line
Explanation: Combination of Hydrogen and Oxygen is Water. The supporting sentence says that once they have combined, we have to struggle with a massive explosion. So, creation is water is resulting into a struggle with massive explosion, the element of struggle makes it a problematic side effect.

Questions 18-21

Complete the Summary below.
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.

Rethinking Sources of Water

The destruction of the airship Hindenburg in 1937 was a lesson in the danger of hydrogen combusting. If water 18…… were to be ended by using chemical reaction of putting oxygen and hydrogen together, the risks would need to be carefully managed. Using 19…… has proven to be a dangerous form of energy production, yet countries still continue with it. The value of creating water supplies may also be seen as a risk worth taking.
Water supplies can also be obtained through the 20…… of seawater. The long-established way of doing this is the distillation process, but it is costly, another method called 21……., is currently used to supply Dubai with water, and electro-dialysis is a further option.

Answer: Shortages
Supporting Sentence: So, if we were to produce water in the amounts required to stop water shortages, there would have to be stringent measures to limit the dangers.
Keyword: water, dangers
Keyword Location: Paragraph 4, 1st & 2nd line
Explanation: The supporting sentence basically says that if water shortage were to be ended by producing water, strict measures have to be taken to limit the dangers. This means there are risks in production of water and they need to be carefully managed if we were to end water shortages by water production.

Answer: Nuclear Power
Supporting Sentence: Then again, the use of nuclear power has even greater risks, with Chernobyl in 1986 and Fukushima in 2011 as horrifying examples, yet nations continue to take the nuclear option. As water becomes scarcer, the benefits of creating it might be seen to outweigh the risks.
Keyword: Nuclear power
Keyword Location: Paragraph 4, 2nd line
Explanation: The supporting basically says nuclear power is risky by giving examples of disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima yet nations are doing it. Similarly, when availability of water will be low people will take risks to produce it.

Answer: Desalination
Supporting Sentence: Another possible way of obtaining water is from seawater. The desalination process can be done in a number of ways.
Keyword: seawater, obtaining water
Keyword Location: Paragraph 5, 1st line
Explanation: In supporting sentence its said that water can be obtained through seawater and the process is Desalination. So, water supplies can be obtained through desalination from seawater.

Answer: Reverse Osmosis
Supporting Sentence: Reverse osmosis is when salt water is pushed through a water- permeable membrane that filters the salt. All of Dubai's drinking water is obtained using this process.
Keyword: Dubai, water
Keyword Location: Paragraph 6, 2nd line
Explanation: Reverse Osmosis here is used in the context of salt-water or seawater. So, its another method of Desalination. Now, this process refers to reverse osmosis and Dubai’s drinking water supply comes from it.

Questions 22-26

Do the following Statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
Choose
TRUE, if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE, if the statement contradicts the information
NOT GIVEN, if there is no information on this

Wealthier Countries should fund the water production required by lower income nations.

Answer: NOT GIVEN

Solar distillation needs to be made more ecologically beneficial.

Answer: FALSE
Supporting Sentence: If we continue the search for ways of taking water vapour out of the atmosphere, or came up with improvements in solar distillation, surely a cheaper, cleaner alternative could be arrived at before long?
Keyword: solar, distillation
Keyword Location: Paragraph 9, 3rd line
Explanation: The supporting sentence is taken from the passage, and it mentions to improve solar distillation method to arrive at a cleaner solution. As it is evident from the sentence itself no reference to ecological benefits of solar distillation is made.

Using water vapour as a water supply is an option that shows potential.

Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence: Another promising method is to extract the water vapour that is always present in the air (to varying degrees depending on the humidity).
Keyword: promising, water vapour
Keyword Location: Paragraph 8, 1st line
Explanation: If a method is promising then it shows potential. It says in the supporting sentence that extract water vapour from water vapour is a promising method.

Machines that produce water from vapour have issues that are similar to desalination.

Answer: TRUE
Supporting Sentence: A number of inventions have been proposed that range from windmills to farm vehicles, but much like the desalination processes, they too have had problems with costs, pollution, sustainability, and effectiveness.
Keyword: desalination, problem
Keyword Location: Paragraph 8, 7th line
Explanation: Windmills and farm vehicles are all machines, and they are proposed as inventions to extract water. Supporting sentence further says that these machine shave had problems/issues like Desalination process.

The writer concludes it is unlikely that a feasible solution will be found.

Answer: FALSE
Supporting Sentence: All these methods may have their drawbacks, but they are certainly a step in the right direction. If we continue the search for ways of taking water vapour out of the atmosphere, or came up with improvements in solar distillation, surely a cheaper, cleaner alternative could be arrived at before long?
Keyword: right direction
Keyword Location: Paragraph 9, 1st & 2nd line
Explanation: The Supporting sentence is taken n from the last paragraph hence it’s the conclusion. The usage of expression like “step in the right direction” and “cleaner alternative could be arrived at” shows that the writer is hopeful. So, hopefulness doesn’t mean a solution is unlikely.